Baby goes to Washington

June 19, 2013 |Photos by Mary F. Calvert / For the Chronicle

Texas families were in Washington to deliver a message to their members of Congress about the importance of access to medical care for children.

Mary F. Calvert/For the Chronicle

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Ashley Cardenas, holding daughter Audrina, 8 months old, greets Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) outside his office on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Audrina was born with a rare and usually fatal congenital malformation known as ectopia cordis. One day after Audrina's birth, surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital saved her life during a six-hour, open heart surgery where they reconstructed her chest cavity to make space for the one-third of her heart that was outside of her body. Cardenas and her mother were in Washington to deliver a message to their members of Congress about the importance of access to medical care for children.

Mary F. Calvert/For the Chronicle

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Ashley Cardenas, holding daughter Audrina, 8 months old, greets Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) outside his office on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Audrina was born with a rare and usually fatal congenital malformation known as ectopia cordis. One day after Audrina's birth, surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital saved her life during a six-hour, open heart surgery where they reconstructed her chest cavity to make space for the one-third of her heart that was outside of her body. Cardenas and her mother were in Washington to deliver a message to their members of Congress about the importance of access to medical care for children.